Recipe: Quinoa Salad

When it comes to eating healthy for me, I need to do commit to two things. First, non-processed and simple food and secondly, deliciousness. 

I like my food like I like my music too. How can you relate food and music one might ask? Well when I find a song I love, I just play it on repeat for weeks or months until I'm sick of it I can't handle it any more (eventually I refind my love). This often happens with Subway (seriously we need some better fast food options Canada). So I'm the same with food. Some food just doesn't change when it comes to my love affair like pickles and Ms. Jackson and others I just like to repeat in certain seasons, or recent obsessions. 

Now that I like to pretend summer is slowly approaching again (as I look outside and can't see across the street from the blizzard). I decided in an effort to save some money and stop eating Subway between my travels (last week I was only home Tuesday-Friday) I would get some food that would I could eat for a few days...and so naturally this will lead to today's yummilicious recipe of a quinoa salad.

I seriously love quinoa, I tried black quinoa a month ago and nearly died. It's so good for you and I don't feel guilty eating it like I do with rice or cous cous, and it's just as delicious, yet somehow more dynamic! Hello protein!

This "salad" is seriously so good, and it gets better with age in the fridge. It's great for summer barbecue potlucks and just well... eating!  

When it comes to cooking for me, I just wing it. I'm not one for following a recipe, and the way that I discovered this salad was eating it at a party and then going home and making it since I was so in love and I just figured out how to make it from taste (move over Rachel Ray). 

Anywho... so here are the basics of how to make this!

You'll need:

quinoa

feta cheese

cucumber

red pepper

green pepper

onions

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Amy's Wing-it Directions:

Cook your quinoa (I use an entire box) and when it's done put it in the fridge to cool, if you're in a hurry to eat this put the quinoa on a baking sheet to cool it quicker. 

Whilst your quinoa is cooling, cut up your cucumber, red and green peppers, onions and feta into cubes. You can use other vegetables, but for this to stay firm and not go all mushy over a few days I'd recommend keeping with vegetables that don't wilt too much in a mixed salad. The amount of vegetables you use is up to you based on the size of your salad and the ratio of vegetables and quinoa you'd like to have. I used half a cucumber, one full red and green pepper and a quarter of a white onion (they're less harsh than cooking and red onions). I used a whole brick of feta. 

Once your quinoa is cooled put it all in a bowl and put a mixture of balsamic vinegar and olive oil over the salad and mix. You want to coat the salad with the oil and vinegar, but you don't want it to be soggy or pooling at the bottom of the bowl. Just put some in and mix and repeat until you feel there is enough. 

It's ready to eat now, but I promise it'll taste better in a few hours or tomorrow if you can wait that long. It tastes really good over a bed of spinach! 

Bon appetit!